Presentation Title
Degree Name
Master of Interdisciplinary Studies (MA)
Department
Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences
Location
UW Tacoma - William W. Philip Hall, Milgard Assembly Room
Event Website
http://guides.lib.uw.edu/tactalks
Start Date
18-5-2017 5:20 PM
End Date
18-5-2017 5:25 PM
Abstract
My presentation concerns the institutionalization of racism in the Prison Industrial Complex (PIC). It is my belief, in concordance with my research, that the Criminal Justice System is a part of and becoming a PIC. The Criminal Justice System encompasses all correction and law enforcement agencies including the courts, police, prisons, etc. In my research I focus on three questions: (1) Why are there proportionally more Blacks incarcerated in the U.S. than any other racial formation in the United States? (2) How does the high incarceration rates of Blacks affect Black youth? and (3) What purpose does incarcerating Blacks serve? These three questions are central to understanding how racism has been institutionalized in the United States and how it directly impacts and shapes the reality of the Black community. In order to answer these questions, my presentation will briefly examine disproportionate sentencing, the War on Drugs, and the cycle of mass incarceration to contextualize the central theme: the socio-economic, cultural, and political plight of Blacks is born from racism in institutions and this racism has direct correlations to the quality of life of Blacks in the United States.
I use critical race theory to frame a rhetorical analysis of existing scholarship concerning race, racism, the cycle of mass incarceration, and PIC. Through this analysis, hegemonic agenda and racist priorities of institutions (e.g. corrections, housing, economics, labor, etc.) in the United States is laid bare; i.e., there are implicit and explicit racist actions targeted at the Black community to further hegemonic agendas and racist priorities in the United States. I dispute the claim that the United States is a post-racial society. To the contrary, I argue that racism has percolated into every institution and every American. Throughout my presentation I would like listeners to ask themselves two introspective questions: What CAN I do and what SHOULD I do in regards to racism in the United States.
COinS
Structural Racism in the Prison Industrial Complex: How the Racial Formation “Other” Causes Discrimination
UW Tacoma - William W. Philip Hall, Milgard Assembly Room
My presentation concerns the institutionalization of racism in the Prison Industrial Complex (PIC). It is my belief, in concordance with my research, that the Criminal Justice System is a part of and becoming a PIC. The Criminal Justice System encompasses all correction and law enforcement agencies including the courts, police, prisons, etc. In my research I focus on three questions: (1) Why are there proportionally more Blacks incarcerated in the U.S. than any other racial formation in the United States? (2) How does the high incarceration rates of Blacks affect Black youth? and (3) What purpose does incarcerating Blacks serve? These three questions are central to understanding how racism has been institutionalized in the United States and how it directly impacts and shapes the reality of the Black community. In order to answer these questions, my presentation will briefly examine disproportionate sentencing, the War on Drugs, and the cycle of mass incarceration to contextualize the central theme: the socio-economic, cultural, and political plight of Blacks is born from racism in institutions and this racism has direct correlations to the quality of life of Blacks in the United States.
I use critical race theory to frame a rhetorical analysis of existing scholarship concerning race, racism, the cycle of mass incarceration, and PIC. Through this analysis, hegemonic agenda and racist priorities of institutions (e.g. corrections, housing, economics, labor, etc.) in the United States is laid bare; i.e., there are implicit and explicit racist actions targeted at the Black community to further hegemonic agendas and racist priorities in the United States. I dispute the claim that the United States is a post-racial society. To the contrary, I argue that racism has percolated into every institution and every American. Throughout my presentation I would like listeners to ask themselves two introspective questions: What CAN I do and what SHOULD I do in regards to racism in the United States.
https://digitalcommons.tacoma.uw.edu/tactalks/2017/spring/8